Maison Rustique

I'm buying stock in pharmaceuticals who make cholesterol and cardiac drugs. While I drink as much alcohol as possible.

Yesterday at Costco I found a couple of steals I couldn't pass up. I'll share some with my sis but will not need to buy cheese again for a while. And no photo, but for tinned fish lovers, they also had packages of 3 tins of a spicy flavored tuna by Fishwife. I don't know size of tins, but cost was $15.xx. Since I've yet to use the Tonnino I got a couple of weeks ago, I did not buy.

Last night's meal of small salad and 2 meatballs was way too much for me. I thought I was paring down just having one meatball tonight but my side was extra heavy, though delicious. Mashed potatoes with spinach and some artichoke and lemon pesto from the back of the pantry. It turned out great. I'm calling it Deb- anized stoemp.

I stopped at Sprouts this morning to pick up a couple of things. As I passed by the case with take and bake meals, I spotted a sign for meatballs for $2.99/lb. They expire tomorrow so were half price. I grabbed one. Since it was expiring, I popped it into the toaster oven a while ago. I had planned to just freeze for future use, but they smelled and looked so good I changed my supper plan. And dang, why didn't I buy another package, too!

@TdeV, personally, I would not freeze it. I think you will wind up with cabbage mush which to me does not sound appealing at all. If you really want cabbage you can freeze, I'd just make a cabbage soup of some sort. Just my own preference, but the texture of frozen cabbage is not going to be good.

Well, since I'm still trying to adjust to cooking for just myself, maybe I need this. I'll mull it over. Too many cookbooks!!!

Since NYE is my birthday, my sister and BIL treated me to a night out at our favorite local restaurant, Osteria Bianchi. It was absolutely stellar. Here is the menu. We all started with the beet salad and it was fantastic. I had the Rotolo and sis and BIL both had lobster risotto. Then I had Veal Osso Buco and both of them had the short rib. For dessert, we had Pistachio Souffle. We had their wine pairings so I don't recall what they all were. I know we started with a French Chablis and a Chateauneuf du Pape with the Osso Buco. We had a bottle of prosecco with dessert and then a little champagne when we got home--most of which went home with them the next day, as we went to bed at 9:30. Old people.

Just as nibbles--like a snack mix. I did decide that when I make it again, I may cut some small cubes of a semi-hard cheese of some sort to add to it.

The nut recipe was a real hit today with my sister and BIL. I definitely have to make it again. And after it sat a while, it didn't seem so salty.

I couldn't find a topic about this so am starting one. I just made a small batch of this to see how it is. I had issues. First I burned the salami (not a problem for me). Then the salami didn't give off much fat so I had to add a splash of evoo. Then I used a salt I hadn't used before and over salted it. I'm fine with it and the recipe is tasty. I just need to pay attention next time. Yesterday I made my black eyed peas, but for the first time since RG began, I did not have their beans to use. I had to make do with supermarket beans! We did not have ham over the holidays so I had to buy a little bit and was not happy with that. Couldn't get the mustard greens I wanted, so have collards and turnips greens. I decided on a whim to use Penzey's Ozark blend in it. Fingers crossed it turns out OK.

I'm beginning to re-think keeping this thing since it is so hard to track down the other pans. I've liked it, but really wanted the deeper pan and without that, I'm not sure I can justify the real estate it requires in my little house. I'll mull it over.

I have it on my shopping list as I only just have about an ounce left in my bottle. I love it with sparkling water and a slice of orange in it goes nicely, too. Makes for a nice aperitif while I'm cooking dinner.

Wow!! That's a lot of cookies!!

@Shelby me, too. I'm a real sourpuss!!